Gideon Blackburn

Gideon Blackburn was an English diplomat in the service of Queens Mary and Elizabeth I during the mid-16th century.

Biography
Gideon Blackburn was born in England, and he was once married and had a daughter, Agatha; his wife died in childbirth. Gideon became a spy for Queen Mary of England and informed Mary about her younger half-sister Elizabeth's love for Robert Dudley, causing Elizabeth to be separated from Robert. When Elizabeth became Queen in 1558, she immediately had Blackburn thrown in the Tower of London and took his daughter Agatha as her ward. In 1561, Elizabeth decided to recruit Blackburn as her new ambassador to France due to Nicholas' failures, as she believed that Blackburn had the espionage skills necessary to sabotage her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. With Linlithgow taken and French troops withdrawing from Scotland, Elizabeth wanted to spy on Mary as she sought a new husband and a new alliance, and she sought for Blackburn to seduce and spy on Mary. He stalled Mary's marriage negotiations with Carlos, Prince of Asturias after informing her of his masochism, and Mary later turned him against Elizabeth after revealing her knowledge of Elizabeth's blackmail of Gideon. He made it appear as if he had seduced Mary, leading to Agatha's release, but the two of them later genuinely fell in love. Gideon later discovered that the Pope was backing Joseph Tudor and not Mary as the Catholic claimant to the English throne, but his kidnapping attempt was foiled by Archbishop Ridolfi. He was later sent to Scotland as an English emissary, where he resumed his affair with Mary and joined her in her quest to acquire the throne of England.